After a very wet first half of December hopes were high that the beginning to the end of California’s years-long drought might finally be at hand. However, virtually no rainfall has fallen across the state since December 18th and none is forecast until at least January 18th. Yet again, a month-long mid-winter dry spell has befallen the state.

Although the cause of the recent disappearance of Air Asia Flight QZ8501 with 162 on board (and presumed lost) has yet to be determined, weather conditions may have been the cause or at least related to its loss. If weather was a factor in the accident then it will rate as the 12th deadliest weather-related aviation disaster on record (the 11th deadliest was an Aeroflot flight that crashed as a...

November was globally the 7th warmest such on record according to NOAA and 8th according to NASA (see Jeff Master’s blog for more about this). It was a cold month in the U.S. with some phenomenal lake-effect snowstorms. A powerful storm, dubbed a ‘Medicane’ formed in the Mediterranean Sea. Deadly floods occurred in Morocco, Italy, and Switzerland. It was the warmest November on record for Australia, Ita...

Last Monday (Dec.8th) I posted a blog discussing the effect the California statewide rains of November 30-December 2nd had on the drought situation. As forecast, a major winter storm struck the state again this past week on Wednesday-Friday, December 10-12. The storm was the most powerful in at least two years to hit the state. Once again, another small step has been made so far as relieving the dr...

A very wet week from November 29th through December 6th brought widespread heavy rainfall to almost the entire state of California and has greatly improved the dire drought situation. With another big storm on the horizon there is hope that the worst of the long drought in California may at last be coming to an end.

The hills of California have turned green again for the first time in almost nine months fol...